As the team’s confidence in (Joey) MacDonald builds, they may unintentionally become lax in their defensive ways, expecting him to make the robbery saves and bail them out, to do what Howard has done all season long. We saw glimpses of this behavior in Sunday’s game against San Jose. At least twice, Sharks forwards entered the zone in the clear, and while MacDonald made the stops, it was the way in which he did so that has me alarmed.

Despite his statistically lofty play, MacDonald has not played well. His rebound control is atrocious. His over-aggressive Tim Thomas-style goaltending leaves the net completely exposed repeatedly throughout the game….

He has been nothing more than an adequate netminder in his 23 periods of hockey with Detroit this season, and can we even expect that to continue?

“Everything that I’ve gone through does make these last two weeks even sweeter for me. I’m not sure what’s going happen next. Whatever they decide to do next is fine with me. I’m just determined to enjoy the ride as long as I can.”

-Joey MacDonald, goaltender for the Detroit Red Wings. More on MacDonald and the Wings from Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press.

Upon hearing of the plane crash in Russia that killed almost the entire Yaroslavl Lokomotiv hockey team Wednesday, Joey MacDonald paused for a moment at the thought that it could’ve been him.

The Detroit Red Wings’ goalie was certain he was headed to Russia to play this season and Yaroslavl was one of the Kontinental Hockey League teams that had been pursuing him until he re-signed with Detroit on July 2.

“It’s tough, especially with me talking to them,” MacDonald said Thursday after a skate with his teammates at Joe Louis Arena. “If I would’ve known the guys (former teammate Ruslan Salei, Detroit assistant coach Brad McCrimmon) that were going over there, I probably would’ve signed with them.

Joey MacDonald knows exactly where the goaltending standards are set in his return to the net in Grand Rapids.

He’s the one who put most of them there in the first place.

MacDonald, 30, signed with the Detroit organization last week after three seasons away from his comfort zone with the Griffins. From 2002 to 2007 he set numerous franchise marks, including career shutouts (16), games played by a goaltender in a season (66 in 2004-05), wins in a season (tied, 34 in 2004-05), shutouts in a season (tied, 6 in 2003-04), and single-season save percentage (.936 in 2003-04). He is second in career wins (88) and saves (4,251).

“I’m setting the bar pretty high for myself. I have great expectations,” MacDonald said. “I’m going to go in there and keep fighting. It doesn’t matter how old you are. It may work out, it may not. But going in, I love to be there. I’m excited to be going back, and that’s a great start for me.”

When former backup goalie Darren Eliot, now a television analyst, heard that a reporter was going to write about New York Islanders goalie Joey MacDonald, he couldn’t resist a little jab.

“What are you going to give him, one paragraph?” Eliot said, his sensitivities for the backup goalie shining through. If there’s such a thing as middle child syndrome, there’s certainly a backup goalie syndrome.

But Thursday, at Philips Arena, the backup goalie was the story. MacDonald was surrounded by reporters inquiring about his string of strong starts, while he capitalized on the opportunity created by Rick DiPietro’s surgery